{"id":682966,"date":"2026-05-20T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682966\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:34:10","slug":"ai-cheating-on-final-exam-western-professor-alleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682966\/","title":{"rendered":"AI cheating on final exam, Western professor alleges"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Western University professor is alleging most students in one of his classes used AI to cheat on their final exam. CTV London’s Bryan Bicknell reports. <\/p>\n

A Western University professor alleges most students in one of his classes used artificial intelligence to cheat on their final exam.<\/p>\n

\u201cA common sentiment that I\u2019ve heard when speaking with students is you\u2019re at a great disadvantage now if you don\u2019t try to take these shortcuts, because you can\u2019t compete,\u201d said Jacob Shelley, a professor in Western\u2019s Faculty of Law and School of Health Studies.<\/p>\n

Shelley says he is convinced the majority of the 288 students in his health-care law course cheated on their April 24 final exam using AI.<\/p>\n

\"\"western – ai – may 2026 (Source: CTV file image\/iStock \/ Getty Images Plus) <\/p>\n

The exam was worth 30 per cent of students\u2019 final mark.<\/p>\n

It was intended to be closed-book and completed independently, with no use of external sources. The exam included both written answers and multiple-choice questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had eight per cent of my class receive 100 per cent on the multiple choice. Fifty-five per cent scored over 90 per cent. I\u2019ve never seen marks like that in 20 years of teaching,\u201d Shelley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then when I went to the written answers, it was very clear there was a disconnect \u2014 information I didn\u2019t teach, information I can\u2019t believe they knew, or the use of a very specific structure that was replicated across multiple students, framing it and writing it almost identically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacob Shelley Western University professor Jacob Shelley speaks to CTV News via Zoom. <\/p>\n

The tenured professor, who has spent 10 years at the London, Ont., university, says he decided not to use proctoring software because he believes it does not prevent cheating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe availability of these AI tools has never been greater. They\u2019re incredibly easy to use,\u201d said tech expert and commentator Carmi Levy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd an unproctored exam online is almost like an invitation to use these tools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Levy says technology has left post-secondary institutions playing catch-up, which could affect their academic credibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll schools need to figure this out and they need to do it quickly, because otherwise their very brands could be at risk of being compromised. If you cannot trust that the integrity of the degree that you grant is unimpeachable, then the value of that degree is diminished on the open market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shelley says he decided not to use the exam results toward final grades, even though administrators instructed him otherwise \u2014 a compromise to his integrity he was not willing to make.<\/p>\n

\"\"Carmi Levy Tech expert Carmi Levy speaks to CTV News via Zoom. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe message I received is that we don\u2019t trust your judgment. We don\u2019t care about your ethics. We care about getting marks out to students because that\u2019s what they paid for, and we\u2019re going to turn a blind eye to concerns about cheating,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shelley says that in the end, and against his wishes, Western decided to include the multiple-choice portion of the exam in final grades.<\/p>\n

CTV News asked Western for an interview to address Shelley\u2019s allegations. The university declined.<\/p>\n

Instead, Western provided the following statement, but only after an earlier version of this story had been published.<\/p>\n

Western is aware of Dr. Shelley\u2019s claims of cheating during a final exam.<\/p>\n

We take all measures to protect academic integrity, and we have robust policies in place to address scholastic offences.<\/p>\n

Any student found to have committed a scholastic offence should expect appropriate consequences for their actions.<\/p>\n

Together with instructors, Western investigates suspected instances of cheating or academic dishonesty when there is some kind of tangible evidence with which to investigate. To date, Dr. Shelley hasn\u2019t shared any such evidence, and we continue to encourage him to do so.<\/p>\n

Leaders at the university have been fully engaged in this matter to find an appropriate resolution for all students in this course.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Western University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Western University professor is alleging most students in one of his classes used AI to cheat on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,712,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-682966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-apple-news","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}